With more exercise comes greater longevity, study shows

If you've ever wondered whether it's really worth it to get more than the minimum recommended amount of exercise, a new study is here to tell you that your extra efforts won't be wasted. Even doing the minimum conveys serious longevity benefits, but as you increase the amount you exercise, these benefits also increase until they peak at around three to five times the recommended amount of physical activity.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), adults should get at least two and a half hours of moderate-intensity exercise per week, which translates to 1.25 hours of intense aerobic activity. However, not much was previously known about the life-extending benefits of doing more than the minimum recommended amount of activity. Lead author Hannah Arem and her colleagues from the National Cancer Institute set out to answer this question in a recently published study.

The researchers combined data on about 660,000 people in the U.S. and Europe that had been collected in previous studies, with half of these studies having tracked their participants for 14 years or more. Using self-reported physical activity levels, they found that even people who did less than the recommended amount of exercise were 20 percent less likely to die during the study period than those who got no exercise. At three to five times the recommended activity level, the mortality rate reduction peaked at around 37 percent lower risk of death than sedentary people. Three to five times the recommended amount of exercise is a minimum of seven hours per week of walking or 2.25 hours of running.

If you're looking for scientific techniques to help you age gracefully, contact the Longevity Centres of America today.